There is one main highway through CR and the rest of the roads quickly go from bad to horrible. Avoiding the potholes is a driving adventure that one normally needs go to a game center to experience. The shade from the overhanging trees also plays tricks on your eyes, so you can not see them coming! Hard lefts, rights and brake slamming were just a few of the fun times had on the roads.
I arrived at night and decided not to take the 2 hour drive from San Jose to the town of Jaco, on the Pacific coast. I spent the night in San Jose and wandered around the main center of town. San Jose was nothing much to speak of.
The drive to Jaco was a two hour adventure through valleys, over mountains, and across rivers spanned by bridges that can only be described as old and dangerous. Good thing they let the 10 ton 18 wheelers cross three at a time! I rented a condo in Jaco to serve as base camp. Fully furnished, deck, Satellite TV, wireless internet, deck, pool and 1 block from the beach; $70 per night. The town of Jaco was nothing to write home about either. Just a party town for surfers. The condo was a mile north of town, so there was plenty of peace, and it was very nice.
Days were spent surfing the breaks around Jaco which provided some of the best surfing I have seen so far. A nice mix of surf from sandy beach breaks to long left hand point breaks to reef breaks 500 yards off the coast. Challenging but very rewarding once up on a wave that you can ride for over 150 meters.
One afternoon was spent at the Manuel Antonio National Park, one of 75 National Parks in a country the size of New Jersey. Monkeys, Iguanas, snakes, Two and Three towed sloth (with baby in tow), colonies of termites and grasshoppers, killer wasps, you name it, it was there. The park was crowded with tourists on day trips from San Jose which made the experience a little less special.
We took a long day trip down the coast to Dominical, which was 4 hours over bumpy dirt roads that sometimes required crossing rivers. The Daihatsu Terios had no problem getting through it. Fun driving.
We also took a day trip up to the volcano at Arenal, which is alive and kicking. The volcano is an inverted ice cream cone shaped mountain that is pretty much always smoking, and will blow lava from time to time for lucky visitors. The best part of the park is the hot spring resort. 15 different pools of varying temperatures with swim up bars and restaurant service. Pretty cool.
My dad made the trip down for my second week in Costa Rica, and we made a couple of day trips around the area, one over to the Nicoy Peninsula which you need to take a ferry to get to. We spent the day in the Curu Private Reserve looking for Crocs and yelling back at the Howler Monkeys. What a sound they make! Ask me to make the sound next time you see me.
We decided to spend the night and avoid the long drive back home, so we jumped over to Malpais, a little surfer retreat with a few hostels, hotels and $350 a night resorts. I tried surfing the next morning, but could not get back out after two waves. The surf was just too strong so I sat by the pool.
We missed one ferry back to Jaco by 5 minutes and raced down the coast to catch the other ferry. Now that was driving. Ever played Sega off road rally? Fun Fun Fun.
The last two days were spent surfing Jaco and getting ready for the Galapagos.
The time FLEW by in CR. A mix of having a lot to do each day, driving for long hours and the stress of the roads made a two week trip to CR seem like only a few days. I would do it differently next time, but the experience was wonderful. Great Surfing, great adventures, great people and great food.
Gracias Amigos, Pura Vida!